Get-VMStartPolicy receives error: "Requested value 'systemDefault' was not found"

[Andy90]

I am trying to get all virtual machine of a VMHost, which have "None" StartAction.

[ESX-Server >> Configuration Tab >> Virtual Machine Startup / Shutdown]

I used the following command:

Get-VMStartPolicy -VMHost <HostName> | Select VM, StartAction | Where {$_.StartAction -eq "None"}

My problem is now, we have about 20 ESX-Host and for 17 of them, the command is running.

For 3 of them I got the following error:

Get-VMStartPolicy : 07.05.2015 11:51:33    Get-VMStartPolicy        Requested value 'systemDefault' was not found.   

At line:1 char:1

+ Get-VMStartPolicy -VMHost <HostName>

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-VMStartPolicy], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_BaseCmdlet_UnknownError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.Host.GetVMStartPolicy

In addition, I tried the the following command:

Get-VMStartPolicy -VMHost <HOSTNAME>

An Example of one successfull ESX-Server:

Get-VMStartPolicy -VMHost "Server1"

VM                             StartAction       StartDelay      StartOrder

VM1                              PowerOn      120 (Inh.)      1        

VM2                              PowerOn      120 (Inh.)      2        

An Example of one failed ESX-Server:

Get-VMStartPolicy -VMHost "Server2"

Get-VMStartPolicy : 07.05.2015 12:10:51    Get-VMStartPolicy        Requested value 'systemDefault' was not found.   

At line:1 char:1

+ Get-VMStartPolicy -VMHost Server2

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-VMStartPolicy], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_BaseCmdlet_UnknownError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.Host.GetVMStartPolicy

Other Commands like "Get-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration -VMHost "gbczbesx01.company.internal" are working fine for the affected servers.

Can someone tell me, what the above mentioned error messages means?

And why does this command fails for some Hosts?

Thanks.

[I am using this command in a powershell-script]

[LucD]

Are these ESXi nodes in a cluster ?

The ones that work and the ones that fail ?

[Andy90]

No, both of these ESXi nodes are not in a cluster.

They are all in the same datacenter and have also the same firmware. That's why I don't understand the problem.

[LucD]

Which PowerCLI version are you using ?

[Andy90]

PowerCli 5.5 Release 1

[LucD]

Is it possible to upgrade to 5.8 or 6 ?

[Andy90]

No, in the Moment this is not possible.

The point is that on one host, the command works and on the other (same firmware, same version) its not working.

[Andy90]

I updated my PowerCLI now to version 6.0 Release 1.

My ESXi Hosts are still 5.5.0 (build 2068190).

After upgrading the PowerCli to 6.0 R1, I got the still the same error.

[MattyShort]

This is a registered bug with VMware.  Bug ID 1336800.  The aim from VMware is to have this fixed in PowerCLI 6.0R2.  This is the official word I have back from VMware after getting the error investigated as I have also had this issue

[Andy90 · Accepted solution]

I got the following response from VMware Support:

"There is an internal PR open with Engineering for this issue but I see it has not been updated since last year. Engineering have not prioritized this issue due to the availability of a workaround. (manually changing the lowercase S to uppercase S) it is unlikely I will have an answer for your questions anytime soon. I have put your questions to them and attached this case to the PR. As soon as I have any information for you I will leave you know. I do expect that this may take some time as a fix for this will need to be coded into a future release."

The following workaround can fix the above mentioned error-message:

Edit the VMAutoStart.xml (under /etc/vmware/hostd) and check for entries "<stopAction>systemDefault</stopAction>" (lowercase "s") and replace it with <stopAction>SystemDefault</stopAction> (uppercase "S").